"We have a car that follows, learns routes and reruns them on its own," says Charlie Andersen, CEO of the startup.
Two companies, Western Growers and S2G Ventures, thought the Burro was good enough for a $250,000 investment offer, along with access to farm acreage for pilot testing. Augean won out over four other startups in an AgSharks Competition.
The Burro works like a virtual conveyor belt by following workers, moving cargo autonomously and capturing data to further automate farm work.
Forbes.com quoted Andersen as saying: "We are finding that with many hand-harvested crops like table grapes, blueberries, raspberries and blackberries, fruit pickers will walk several miles each day carrying heavy containers of what they’ve picked back and forth. With a single Burro running up and down rows autonomously, a crew of people picking can generally pick 20-30% more produce per day, assisted by a virtual conveyor belt running what they’ve picked back and forth to a collection point."
